> First, it's probably not the case that interest and practice can have any impact on your underlying mathematical aptitude.
What?! How did you arrive to that conclusion? This is a really bad myth. Math abilities for the most part have very little to do with genes, and almost all to do with hard word, motivation, and practice. See http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/10/the-myt... for more.